Netputing » Handhelds

How to Wake Up Your AppleTV G2 With the Remote Application

admin — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 01:55:28 +0000

: Image by existentist via Flickr

OK, so you have bought the new Apple TV and have been using the very nice iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch Remote application to control it. But the thing is that the AppleTV will go to sleep after, by default, 1 hour of idle time. This is a good thing for the environment and your TV… but can be frustrating since it appear as if you can only wake it up with the tiny aluminum remote.

Fear not, there is a way to wake up the sleeping beauty with the Remote application. Simply go to the control screen and touch the “menu” word at the bottom of the screen. That’s it, the sleeping beauty will awake!

This feature allow me to hide the AppleTV behind the TV mounted on the wall so that no wires are visible… and no IR can be reaching it… hence the need to always rely on the Remote application to control it.

I hope this will help you get the most of the unit.

Apple TV G2 has a fast restore time

admin — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 00:08:47 +0000

I just performed my 1st firmware restore on the Apple TV G2 and I was amazed at how fast the whole process was. I am betting on a fast data rate trough the micro usb interface and fast read/write to flash. The whole firmware process probably too no longer that 3 minutes, from start to finish… much faster that restoring my iPhone 4.

Total time to restore, including waiting 1 minute to verify eligibility with Apple: 2minutes and 50 seconds

Total time to write the 250mb to the flash: 45 sec… or 5.6 MB/sec transfer rate.

In comparison, restoring my iPhone 4 take 7minutes and 8 seconds…

Maybe Apple went for faster flash access so that the AppleTV G2 can quickly read/write content to flash based buffer?

VLC media player is available on the AppStore

admin — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 16:35:17 +0000

After 2 weeks of review, VLC for the iPad is now available on the AppStore! The release date is set to Tuesday, Sept. 21, so depending on your timezone, it should be available pretty soon.

For instance, it’s already available in New-Zealand! Just follow this iTunes link that should become active as soon as the app reaches your store.

For the technically-inclined of you, the sources are being uploaded to videolan.org, and should be made available before the end of the day.

Also, Applidium got many questions regarding an iPhone version. It’s in the works! Applidium started with the iPad, but an iPhone and iPod version is coming.

Google Grateful at Apple’s Mobile Ads Terms Change

admin — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 15:30:54 +0000

: Image via CrunchBase

Omar, Vice president of product management at Google wrote a positive blog post regarding recent Apple‘s License Agreement terms.

The new terms provide immediate clarification about the status of mobile advertising on the iPhone and will benefit users, developers, and advertisers. Users will benefit from more free, or low cost, apps that are can now more readily be supported by advertising. Developers will be able to choose from a variety of competitive advertising options and pick the solution that works best for them, to boost their revenues. Advertisers will have access to simple and effective advertising solutions that can reach users across a wide range of devices.

We’re 100% committed to developing the best possible advertising solutions and formats for the iPhone – as well as for Android devices, Blackberries, Palm devices, Windows mobile devices and undoubtedly many more to come – in the years ahead.

An Update on Apple’s Terms of Service – Google Mobile Ads Blog.

iPhone 4 in Canada might be delayed due to potential recall?

admin — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 12:52:25 +0000

Cult of Mac wrote an interesting piece of news reporting that Apple will have no choice but to recall all current iPhone 4 to protect it’s brand.

Could this spell delay for Canadians iPhone 4 consumers? Maybe. It all depends if Apple can provide a software fix that will work around the “Antenna” issue when holding the iPhone in a particular way. This is often referred as the “Death grip”.

As you might be aware Consumer Reports issues a “Does not recommend” report for the iPhone 4 yesterday triggering a huge news backlash.

This could prove serious to Apple and is currently damaging it’s reputation. A swift action is expected and may involve a complete product recall. It is also possible that Apple may provide a temporary solution in the form of a “bumper case” that happen to prevent shorting the antenna by isolating the metal components from the hand holding the phone.

I was going to buy one on the launch date in Canada but now I have some doubts. I mean, who want to buy a flawed phone. It might be the best darn phone out there for everything else but… reception.

I just looked at the Android offering and I must say that I am disapointed. OK, it look like a good OS but all the hardware that run it appear to be flawed in their own way… Short battery life, bad screen, bulky, slow, etc, etc.

So I don’t know, maybe after all even a flawed iPhone 4 is still better than the best Android phone for now.

PR Experts: iPhone 4 Hardware Recall Is “Inevitable” | Cult of Mac.

Apple defensive over Consumer Reports findings, deletes forum threads (reviews.cnet.com)
The iPhone 4 is great* (marco.org)
Apple deletes support threads talking about Consumer Reports iPhone 4 story (slashgear.com)

Unlocked iPhone 4 soon to be sold on Apple Store

admin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:26:57 +0000

It is official, Apple now announced that commitment-free iPhone 4 will soon be available on the Canadian Apple Store.

This is how Apple describe the iPhones purchased via the online store:

Your new iPhone. Direct from Apple and ready to use.

When you purchase your iPhone from the Apple Online Store, you’ll get it commitment-free. So you can sign up for service with the carrier of your choice and change your carrier at any time. Questions? Call our iPhone experts at 1-800-MY-APPLE.

Based on current pricing for the 3GS it is expected that the 16GB iPhone 4 will run for $649.00

Get some Flash on the iPad!

admin — Fri, 14 May 2010 13:29:13 +0000

As you know by now (I hope) Flash is not supported on the iPhone nor the iPad. But Flash is used on most web sites out there. So how do you get to see those sites properly on the iPad? There is a free iPhone app (hope they will upgrade to iPad native soon) called Cloud Browse. This nifty application allows you to remotely control a full version of Firefox, enabling you to access websites that have Flash.

So that means streaming video websites such as Vimeo, Justin.tv, etc.

How does Cloud Browse work?

Cloud Browse goes beyond the limitations of a mobile device because it doesn’t use a scaled down web browser.

Instead, a full desktop browser is running remotely and being streamed to the iPhone/iPod Touch. The remote browser have access to higher bandwidth, more memory and faster processor than that of any mobile device.

Worried about privacy or security? Because Cloud Browse runs the browsers on a remote machine and not on your iPhone, there is no need to worry about websites grabbing your private information or leaving a trail of your browsing history.

Click here to get Cloud Browse

Linux on the iPhone: Android on iPhone 3G

admin — Fri, 07 May 2010 13:06:48 +0000

If you own an iPhone 3G, you are tech savy and want to test run Google Android here is your chance!

Source: Linux on the iPhone: Android on iPhone 3G.

Apple wants to embed cardiac sensors into an iPhone case to identify you

admin — Thu, 06 May 2010 15:35:46 +0000

Here is an interesting new patent from Apple. It is about biometric authentication using your heart beat to identify you. This is probably the best biometric identification scheme I have seen yet. Forget about loosing a finger, an eye or another body part for identification purpose. For this one to work you need to be alive and well, holding an iPhone.

I am looking forward to use this new technology. I doubt it will be in the next iPhone unveiled this June…

via Apple wants to embed cardiac sensors into an iPhone case to identify you » Unwired View.

My 1st thoughts as an early Canadian iPad user

admin — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 12:00:04 +0000

: Image by  Jesus Belzunce via Flickr

Here we go, I am now an happy early Canadian iPad user! I will summarize my 1st toughts about this great little device.

1st, the unit is actually smaller than I thought. Not sure if it is because I have big hands but looking at pictures on the web and holding it myself feel different.

2nd, the unit is actually heavier than I expected. Not like too heavy but it does have some weight to it…more than a book of the same size but not as much as an Britannica Encyclopedia

3rd, the screen is beautiful, big, bright, vibrant and saturated. Even at the lowest brightness setting it can be viewed very comfortably.

4th, the kids just love it. I mean, they literally took it away and had to way until they got to bed to have some quality time with it. The young one see it as some kind of interactive book and the older one as a gaming console.

5th, it is fast, really really fast compared to my iPhone 3G. Not sure how it fares against the 3Gs… probably a bit faster from the limited time I spent with a freind’s 3Gs.

6th, there are a ton of good applications for it. I mean, there is no shortage of them.

7th, some of the application won’t run in Canada due to the fact that the iPad store is not open yet in Canada. That is ok, I will wait a month or so.

8th, I really like Air Video. I watched an episode of Fringe on it over the wireless network and it could not be any better… even if the source was an actual avi and had to be transcoded on the fly. I thought it actually looked better on the iPad than full blown on the iMac… might have to do with the transcoding removing the blockiness of the source and rendering a bit softer.

That is it for now!